Genre

World War Two Will Not Take Place

Bill James

Set during an alternative version of 1938 with Bill James' trademark satirical take on events.

England,1938. War looms, but the Prime minister's talks with Hitler in Munich seem to result in a pact of peace. Now Mount, a secret service officer, is sent on an undercover mission to Berlin. But with all this talk of peace he starts to wonder whether his mission has any point. All until a meeting with Toumlin and two good-time girls from the local bar results in a broken chair. Could this chair have been not only the key to his mission but also the key to peace?

Hitmen I Have Known

In the 35th installment of the popular Harpur and Iles police procedural series, tensions in the community are mounting following the gruesome deaths of two men. Alarmingly, suspicion falls on Assistant Chief Constable Iles. He seems at ease with the accusations, as are his superiors in the police force. But others are not feeling so secure.

Close

Coming across Hart's shot-up body, Detective Harpur and Constable Iles have to work out why the private investigaor was executed. The trail leads them through illegal art trading, money laundering and more murder. Iles suspects Harpur is hiding something and Harpur is hiding essential facts from him. Will the mismatched pair close the case?

The Principals

This sharply satirical novel concerns a battle royal between two academic institutions and their principals.

It's all-out war in this witty satire on academic life. Two universities in the same city each aim to destroy the other and take over one another's buildings, students and, above all, bank balance. It's Dr Lawford Chute of the revered Sedge University versus Dr Victor Tane of Charter Mill: who will win these ferocious academic fights?

First Fix Your Alibi

When a major drugs dealer seeks vengeance for the death of his family, policemen Harpur and Iles must do all they can to prevent a bloodbath

Following the murder of his wife and son, tycoon drugs dealer Mansel Shale is determined to get vengeance - and he wants another drugs baron, Ralph Ember, to help him. When they learn of the plan, top policemen Harpur and Iles must do all they can to prevent the ensuing bloodbath.

Blaze Away

Policemen Harpur and Iles get mixed up in the criminal world of fine art dealing.

Local crook Ralph Ember wants some art to elevate his gentleman's club; and who else would he visit to procure this art but profoundly dodgy fine arts dealer Jack Lamb? Add to the mix stolen-art procurer Basil Gordon Loam - aka Enzyme - who Harpur and Iles are keen to see locked up, and things soon start to get complicated all round...

Disclosures

Panicking Ralph is a big-time villain - but he's a local villain - and when his life is threatened, policemen Harpur and Iles are straight on the case.

Ralph Ember is a big-time crook on Harpur and Iles' local ground. But Ralph wasn't always their villain: his past is entwined with London copper Esther Davidson and the lethal street war that was the making of them both. Now, repercussions of that event threaten 'Panicking' Ralph's life...and, with it, the stability of Ilse's patch.

Snatched

Bill James is on top form in this sharply satirical black comedy set behind the scenes at a museum.

George Lepage, the Hulliborn's new director, dreams of bringing the Japanese Ancient Surgical Skills exhibition, with its astonishing collection of tonsil excision implements, to the museum. But an unhinged ex-staff member is determined to wreak havoc, and when the museum is burgled, the fate of the exhibition hangs dangerously in the balance.

Undercover

When Harpur and Iles are called in to investigate an undercover investigation gone wrong, they can sense dark, hazardous times ahead...

After a gang shooting involving an undercover police officer, Colin Harpur and his boss Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles are called onto another force's ground to investigate what the Home Office see as spectacular failings. Harpur knows that he and Iles have an exceptionally tough inquiry ahead.

Noose

The past is an inescapable noose around a young man's neck, in this blackly comic, satirical novel from renowned crime writer Bill James.

Britain, 1956. A young actress seemingly tries to commit suicide over a tangled love affair, but is taken to hospital and her life saved. The story is just the sort of thing that journalist Ian Charteris likes to cover. It should be a routine assignment. It would be, if it wasn't for the identity of the young woman. She may - just may - be Ian's sister.

Play Dead

The 30th outing for Harpur & Iles - Colin Harpur and his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, uncovered an unpalatable truth: there is corruption in the ranks.

Good detective work allowed the pair to arrest and charge a fellow policeman, who murdered an undercover officer in an attempt to keep a crook-police racket secret. But their work is not yet done. Who ordered the execution? Why? Just how high did the conspiracy go? And - and most importantly - does the crooked power group behind the assassin still flourish?

Vacuum

After his son and wife were shot, Mansel Shale has turned to God - leaving DCS Colin Harpur with a problem. Shale has abandoned his drugs empire, leaving his business in the hands of an inexperienced assistant. Harpur can see protracted, warring viciousness on the horizon, and something must be done...

Full of Money

Part social satire, part police procedural, Bill James returns with the stunning prequel to Tip Top.

In the drug-ridden Whitsun and Temperate housing estates a connection, once made, is only ever one thing: trouble. Trouble for the journalist whose investigation into the estates leads to his murder; trouble for policewoman Esther Davidson, whose job it is to arrest the killer; and trouble for TV producer Larry Edgehill, who becomes more involved with a Romeo and Juliet-esque cross-estate romance than he ever would have wanted.

Off-Street Parking

A stand-alone mystery from a bestselling author.

DC Sharon Mayfield is on routine surveillance when she spots a dead man in a car. The car's locks are sealed with superglue and Claude Huddart's face has been mutilated. As with most murders, there's a puzzle to be solved, but the pieces don't fit. Why is informant Jeremy Dince (if that's his real name) being so helpful? And there's just something that doesn't feel right about the grieving Alice Huddart...

Letters From Carthage

A fresh and original take on a mystery within a mystery.

Fresh from the inner city, Vince and Kate are new to the suburbia of Tabbett Drive, delighted to have accessed this middle-class paradise. They've even found the neighbours remarkably friendly, Jill and Dennis Seagrave seem particularly affable. However, Kate begins to detect all is not as it seems with the Seagraves. Can it be that beneath the façade of this perfect suburban calm lie secrets as dangerous as any inner city? Is everything (is anything) as it seems?

The Sixth Man and other Stories

All is not well in the underworld. With three entirely new Harpur and Iles stories, three more never before published together, plus a spicy little interlude with some crooks from the series and a fistful of other tales from the seamier side of life, this anthology is a must-read for fans of Bill James's dark, gritty thrillers.

Making Stuff Up

Meet the hothouse student talent in a University Creative Writing course, and some talents not so hot.

Principal Caspar Ballaugh struggles to qualify for better Government funding, despite Government policy changing daily. He could secure glory by getting the local city a European award for cultural achievement. But how to do this without lecturer Lucy Corth, nationally hailed as a poetic genius, just after Ballaugh sacked her?